This application claims the priority of German application 198 43 364.6, filed Sep. 22, 1998, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a ventilation assembly for installing in the interior of a vehicle, in particular in the dashboard of a motor vehicle, comprising a housing which has an air-inlet opening for fitting an air-feed duct on and also two air-outlet openings which are arranged one above the other in an installation position and lie in two planes at an angle to each other, and in which housing two air ducts are formed, each connecting one of the two air-outlet openings to the air-inlet opening, and a meter operable to control quantities of air flowing into the two air ducts.
A known ventilation element of this general type (German Patent Document DE 43 27 266 C1), where it is called an air nozzle, is used for the interior ventilation of a vehicle on the front-passenger side and is installed for this purpose in the lateral dashboard region. The housing widens in the manner of a funnel from the air-inlet opening, and the two air ducts, which lead to the air-outlet openings, are formed by an interior dividing wall and the housing walls. The quantities of air supplied to the air ducts can be set separately, via a pivotable air flap respectively assigned to an air duct, one air flap being arranged in a duct opening, which is formed by the dividing wall and the lower and lateral housing wall, and the other air flap being arranged in a duct opening, which is formed by the dividing wall and the upper and lateral housing wall. The two duct openings lead into the common air-inlet opening.
Of the two housing outlet openings, which lie vertically one above the other in planes at an angle to each other at the other end of the air ducts, the upper air-outlet opening is provided with fixed longitudinally and transversely extending air-guiding fins, while the lower air-outlet opening has adjustable transverse or horizontal fins and adjustable longitudinal or vertical fins. For the longitudinal fins to be adjustable, they are mounted in the housing in a manner such that they can be pivoted about a pivot axis and can be displaced by hand using a slider which is guided on a transverse fin. The transverse fins are coupled laterally to one another and can be pivoted upwards and downwards by a tilting movement of the slider held on the transverse fin.
In order to operate the two air flaps, in the housing laterally next to the lower air-outlet opening a hand wheel, for manual control, and also a remote control, which can be implemented, for example, by means of a Bowden cable, are provided. The manual control acts on the lower air flap, which is assigned to the lower air duct, and the remote control acts on the upper air flap, which is assigned to the upper air duct. The two air flaps are connected to each other via coupling means which enables the upper air flap, with the opening of the lower air flap by the manual control, to move into its closed position, and also enables the lower air flap, with the opening of the upper air flap by the remote control, to move into its closed position. This automatic coupling of the air flaps results in the air nozzle being set by remote control to the defrosting and demisting function and being able to be reset to individual interior ventilation by manual control by the front-seat passenger.
An object of the invention is to refine a ventilation element of the type mentioned above in such a manner that individually adjustable interior ventilation which is as free as possible from drafts is achieved.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, this object is achieved by providing an assembly wherein an end side of the lower air duct, which leads to the lower air-outlet opening, encloses the air-inlet opening, wherein an end side of the upper air duct, which leads to the upper air-outlet opening, encloses a wall opening in the lower air duct, and wherein the meter has a pivotable air-discharge flap which optionally closes and opens the wall opening and is arranged in the lower air duct in such a manner that its pivot axis lies close to the wall opening on a side of said wall opening which is remote from the air-inlet opening.
The ventilation assembly according to the invention has the advantage that when the access to the upper air duct is opened, the air-discharge flap pivots into the lower air duct and in doing so forms an air-guiding element which diverts some of the airflow entering into the lower air duct through the air-inlet opening into the upper air duct which then emits it into the interior via the upper air-outlet opening which is somewhat directed away from the vehicle passengers. With the air-discharge flap pivoted away to the maximum and therefore with the cross section of the wall opening to the upper air duct released or opened to the maximum, there is a 50% division of the quantity of air, so that the maximum air supply to the ventilation element results all in all in extensive, draft-free ventilation.
Advantageous embodiments of the ventilation assembly according to the invention with expedient refinements and developments of the invention are described herein and in the claims.
According to an advantageous feature of preferred embodiments of the invention, the air-inlet opening is assigned a control member which adjusts the free opening cross section of it, and a controller for operating the air-discharge flap is designed in such a manner that only when the air-inlet opening is fully released by the control member is the opening of the air-discharge flap initiated. A control member of this type is used for air metering in automatic operation and is realized, for example, by an electrically adjustable pivoting flap in the air-guiding duct or in the housing of the ventilation element. By the controller in this case the air-discharge flap is only acted upon, for the purpose of opening the upper air duct, if the maximum quantity of airflows into the lower air duct and extensive distribution of the air over two air-outlet planes is therefore required for the purpose of obtaining draft-free ventilation.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ventilation element, as a so-called central nozzle, is used for individual ventilation of the left-hand and right-hand interior of the vehicle, for which purpose the lower and upper air duct, the lower and upper air-outlet opening and the air-discharge flap are in each case present in duplicate and are arranged in the housing in a mirror-symmetrical manner to the housing center. The two lower ducts which are now present are separated from each other by a chamber and the two upper air ducts which are now present are separated from each other by a partition wall which protrudes on the upper side of the chamber. The chamber has an insertion opening which lies in a plane with the lower outlet openings and, according to an advantageous feature of preferred embodiments of the invention, is used to accommodate a box-shaped insert, preferably an electronic box, which protrudes in front of the plane of the lower air-outlet openings and bears two adjusting wheels. The adjusting wheels protrude on an end side of the electronic box shaped insert and have rotational axes aligned parallel to the plane of the air-outlet opening, for manually operating in each case one of the two air-discharge flaps. This insert holds the controller for the two air-discharge flaps and also contains further components for setting the temperature and automatic ventilation.
According to an advantageous feature of preferred embodiments of the invention, the controller for operating in each case one of the two air-discharge flaps have a slotted-link segment which is arranged rotatably in the insert and is operatively engaged to the adjusting wheel, which is assigned to the particular air-discharge flap. The slotted-link segment bears a curved guide groove into which a guide pin, which is arranged on the air-discharge flap, projects in a manner such that it can be displaced longitudinally therein. The guide groove has a groove section which is concentric to the segment pivot, and an eccentric groove section continuing on from it. As long as the guide pin is situated in the concentric groove section, force is not exerted on the air-discharge flap, and the latter remains in its closed position. In this region, rotation of the adjusting wheel causes activation of the electric pivoting drive of the control member which releases the opening cross section of the air-inlet opening to a maximum at the end of the concentric groove section. If, during further rotation of the adjusting wheel, the guide pin then enters into the eccentric groove section, the air-discharge flap is pivoted away from the wall opening to the upper air duct and at the end of the groove section reaches its maximum pivoted-away position.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, in the two lower air-outlet openings, vertically aligned air-guiding fins are arranged pivotably at a parallel distance from one another in such a manner that their front edges, which point in the air-emission direction, are approximately flush with the plane of the two air-outlet openings. A shell which covers the two housing planes having the lower and upper air-outlet openings is clipped onto the housing, the shell having cutouts which are congruent with the air-outlet openings, the two cutouts, which release the lower air-outlet openings, being provided with horizontally aligned air-guiding fins, which are arranged pivotably at a parallel distance from one another. The cutout, which releases the upper air-outlet openings, is provided with fixed air-guiding fins which extend parallel to the horizontal air-guiding fins. This additional covering shell results in a closed overall image of the ventilation assembly which can be individually adapted to the design of the interior, by appropriate refinement of the covering shell, so that the housing of the ventilation element can be used universally in vehicles of differing design. The covering shell can be quickly fitted onto the housing by simple clipping-on and in addition to the additional technical elements for the ventilation, e.g. the air-guiding fins, can also contain other style elements.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.